By Jason Evans

Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

PICKENS — It’ll be an evening of hilarity benefitting charity Thursday night at the Appalachian Ale House in Pickens, as a group of comedians step up to the mic to help animals in need of a forever home.

Author and comedian Carrie Adams was giving a talk at a local library last year. Afterward, she and librarian Jennifer Kolesar realized their shared love of helping animals. Kolesar is a big supporter of the Pickens County Humane Society and other animal rescue efforts.

“I told her ‘If you ever want do to a benefit, let me know,’” Adams said. “I love to give back.”

That led to the first comedy benefit show for the Pickens County Humane Society, held in January at the Appalachian Ale House.

Guffaws for Paws was a big success, drawing a packed house and raising nearly $600.

“It exceeded Jennifer’s expectations and the shelter’s expectations, and they really need it,” Adams said.

Adams hosted the first benefit and will be hosting the sequel show as well.

“I was really pleased by what an awesome audience that was,” Adams said. “Every audience has its own character. Every comic’s dream is to have an audience like that.

Guffaws for Paws II will be held at 8 p.m. this Thursday, April 21, at Appalachian Ale House. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10.

“We have all new comics this time,” Adams said. “We have really awesome comics. I know it’s going to be a fabulous show.”

Clifton Hall will be performing first. An Asheville comic, Hall is “a really funny guy,” Adams said.

“He has a ton of material about pets,” Adams said. “About 90 percent of his material is about his dog.”

Craig Holcombe is a member of No Expectations Comedy in Greenville.

“He does an improvisational style of comedy,” Adams said. “Every set is different. Expected the unexpected with Craig — he’s wild.”

Headliner Tom Emmons is a familiar face in the Greenville comedy scene. He’s the host at the Comedy Zone in Greenville.

“He’s performed at a lot of the best comedy festivals across the country,” Adams said. “I’m excited to have two professionals and a very awesome local comic.”

Originally from Seattle, Adams attended the University of Southern California Film School and worked in the entertainment industry for a time.

Her first novel, “Ruthless,” was published last year.

She’s been doing stand up-comedy for three years. She enjoys performing and producing comedy shows.

“Writing novels is hard,” Adams said. “It really takes a force of will. Comedy is like breathing to me.”

The comedy fundraisers are a natural fit for Adams.

“My background with animal rescue goes way back,” she said. “I don’t want to say that I like animals more than I like people, but I totally like animals more than I like people.”

She currently has four cats, two dogs and horse.

“All of those animals except for one are rescue animals,” Adams said.

She hasn’t yet visited the Pickens County Humane Society for one important reason.

“I’d leave with like seven animals,” Adams said. “I don’t think I should ever go there. I don’t think I would handle it well. I want to help them a lot, but getting hands-on with it would be a little rough for me.”

The Pickens County Humane Society, located at 500 Five Forks Road in Liberty, was established in 1942, according to director Samantha Gamble. But its existence is still a surprise to many.

“A lot of people don’t know we’re here,” Gamble said.

People often think the organization is a department of Pickens County government, which is not the case, she said.

Although the county does allocate $70,000 to the Humane Society annual, it does not run the facility.

“We are a nonprofit,” she said. “If we didn’t receive the $70,000 that we receive from (the county), we would have to close our doors. We don’t have enough community support.”

The society’s operation costs are about $210,000 a year. More support from local government and the community is essential, as the facility has been forced to dip into its savings more and more.

“Eventually the funding is going to run out,” Gamble said.

The Pickens County Humane Society is the only such organization within the region that is only an adoption facility. It does not operate its own spay or neuter clinic, partnering with local vets for those services.

“They do discount the costs,” Gamble said, adding that the society incurs other costs, such as shots and food, for each animal it adopts out.

The Humane Society’s adoption fee is $85. While some people think that’s a steep price, Gamble says other agencies adopt animals on a sliding fee scale depending on the animal or are able to offer lower prices because they are completely government-operated.

Her facility just charges that flat $85 fee for any animal.

“We cannot reduce that fee because we work with our local veterinarians,” Gamble said. “We lose money on every adoption. Our animals are not spayed and neutered until they are adopted, because we can’t afford to do otherwise. That adoption fee pays for those services.”

The Humane Society is the only adoption facility in Pickens County.

“Animal Control is not an adoption facility,” Gamble said.

The number of animals the Humane Society sees in a year ranges between 1,000 and 2,000 animals, Gamble said.

“We generally stay at full capacity, which is generally about 120 animals at a time,” Gamble said.

The Greenville County Humane Society often pulls animals from the Pickens County Society.

“We’re very thankful for them, because if they didn’t pull those animals from us, we wouldn’t be able to accept animals in, because we would stay full, because we just don’t have that traffic that comes through to us,” Gamble said.

The facility has a lot of out-of-state adoptions as well, she said.

The society is not restrictive about the animals it takes in.

“The only thing we won’t take in is knowingly vicious animals, animals that have bitten people,” Gamble said. “(We also don’t accept) pit bulls and pit bull mixes, just because our facility isn’t equipped to handle them.”

The Society recently renovated its kennel area. A future goal is a Cat Cottage, which will move its feline population into a new space, further away from the dogs. That renovation is estimated to cost another $30,000.

The Humane Society is a low-kill facility.

“We only euthanize if we need to — it usually comes down to a health issue,” Gamble said. “We never euthanized for length of stay here — it’s always something else that contributes to that. We do our best to move them out to other rescues, other Humane Societies, anything we can do to rescue that animal, get that animal in a forever home.”

During the comedy show, donations of items for the Humane Society will also be accepted.

“If people want to bring pet beds or blankets or pet food, all of that will be gratefully accepted,” Adams said.

Donating items is a great way to help the Humane Society.

“Every time we get something donated to us is one less thing that we have to pay for — we can put that money toward something else,” Gamble said.

Puppy food and kitten foods are needed, as well as cleansers including bleach, aerosol, Lysol and Pine Sol.

“Cat litter is a big thing,” Gamble said.

Cleaning supplies needed include sponges, dish gloves, paper towels, mops, mop heads and brooms. Office supplies are always appreciated as well, Gamble said.

“Anything you would have in a house or a business as far as office supplies and cleaning supplies are concerned,” she said.

Cedar shavings for the outside kennels are needed.

A tip jar will also be on hand at the comedy show for those wanting to make separate monetary donations to the society.

The society’s third annual golf tournament will be held at the Pickens Country Club on Aug. 6. It is the biggest fundraiser for the Humane Society.

Fundraisers are a big help to the facility. Gamble said year-round support from the community is key.

“We’ve never gotten to the point where we’re able to sustain ourselves, and that’s something we would love to be able to do,” she said.

Gamble said everyone at the Humane Society wants it to be “a prominent member of the community and something that everybody can get behind and support.”

“We want to be able to take more animals in and have more adoptions and save more animals,” she said.

Visit the Humane Society at pickenscountyhumanesociety.com or call (864) 843-9693.